Bob Fitzsimmons vs. Tom Sharkey
Earp was pilloried for his decision by the public and popular press, who vilified him and accused him of accepting a payoff to throw the match.
[3] In 1905, Dr. B. Brookes Lee confirmed the fight had been fixed and confessed he had treated Sharkey so it would appear that he had been fouled,[4] although it's unclear if Earp had prior knowledge of the scam.
In 1896, James J. Corbett, the first heavyweight champion crowned under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules,[5]: 109 hadn't defended his title in three years.
[6] He had already fought Corbett on June 24, 1896, in San Francisco, but the match was ruled a draw after four rounds due to police interference.
Lawrence had acquired the nickname of "Long Green" because of his ability to turn a shady dollar and made many enemies as a result, requiring Earp's services.
[6] Fight promoters John D. Gibbs and J. J. Groom of the National Athletic Club were unable to find a referee that both sides could agree on.
[2] The San Francisco Call told a different version of the story, that Lawrence, managing editor of the competing newspaper The Examiner, had suggested Earp to Gibbs.
[11] In a personal visit to the offices of The Call, Groom and Gibbs delivered a letter in which they denied that Lawrence played a role in choosing Earp.
When both Sharkey's and Fitszimmons' managers would not agree on a referee, they chose Earp on the day of the fight because he was "reported to be fearless, cool and honest."
[15] The Fitzsimmons camp strongly resisted Earp as referee, but with no alternative, finally yielded, knowing that 15,000 people had paid between $2 and $10 for tickets.
[16] He developed a reputation officiating boxing matches[3] and refereed a fight between John Shanssey and Mike Donovan[17] on July 4, 1869, in Cheyenne, Wyoming[18] in front of about 3000 people.
Earp was a controversial choice, and he gained instant notoriety before the fight started when he entered the ring carrying his customary .45 caliber pistol in his coat pocket.
In the much-criticized and disputed biography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, Stuart N. Lake wrote that Sharkey "stumbled forward instead of back.
[6] The crowd noise was so loud that most didn't hear Earp render his decision giving the fight to the downed Sharkey.
[8] "Sailor" Tom Sharkey's manager D. J. Lynch went to the Anglo California National Bank the day after the fight and attempted to cash the certified check for the purse of $14,700 (about $538,000 today).
[30] On December 8, a sheriff deputy put a lien on two horses Earp owned for $170.45 for a debt allegedly owed to J. G. Swinnerton of Stockton.
[31] Another lawsuit was filed on December 9 by J. H. Levenson of Tombstone, who claimed Earp owed two notes totaling $1110.79, 19 years after leaving Arizona.
[33] A panel appointed by mayor Washington Bartlett learned that the racehorses Earp was reputed to own were leased, and that he owed $2,121 (about $77,680 today) to a loan company.
They lampooned and scrutinized Wyatt for a full month, challenging his integrity, questioning his honesty, and thoroughly vilifying him, insisting he was either blind or a fool.
[34] Earp was parodied in a caricature by The New York Herald as a "cackling, washed-up ruffian pointing a gun at Fitzsimmons with his right hand while slipping a bag of cash to Sharkey with the left", wearing a sombrero with a knife in his teeth.
[25]: 275–298 On December 14, 1896, the San Francisco Call quoted a story from the New York Journal by Alfred H. Lewis, "who knew the 'bad men' in Arizona.
Often they got as high as $25,000.... Virgil, as marshal, would enlist Wyatt, Warren and Julian, together with Curly Bill, their cousin, and hunt the hold-ups.
Police Commissioner Mose Gunst told the San Francisco Call that he saw plenty of evidence on the street the afternoon before the fight that betting was suddenly favoring Sharkey.
[38] Gunst said he ran into Riley Grannan, then known as one of gambling's biggest "plungers" (or reckless gambler[39]) nationwide,[40] who told him that Earp had been "fixed.
Dr. D. D. Lustig, a San Francisco physician and the National Athletic Club medical examiner, testified that he attempted to visit Sharkey in his dressing room immediately after the fight but was barred access.
The Sacramento Daily Union reprinted a story from San Francisco that reported that the swelling and discoloration could have been caused by "injecting any irritating fluid.
Lynch arranged for Earp to serve as referee, who agreed to give the fight to Sharkey the first time Fitzsimmons landed a close body blow, for which he was to receive $2,500.
Groom, Gibbs and Lynch in turn said that Smith attempted to extort additional payment from them and when they refused, went to Fitzsimmons camp.
"[45]: 221 Judge Sanderson finally ruled on December 17[1] that the hearsay evidence about the alleged fix was insufficient, and that the men engaging in the prizefight were "committing an offense against the law" and thus it was "not the sort of case for a court to consider.
[50] The Review-Atlas, the local paper from his birthplace in Monmouth, Illinois, printed a story on page one about Wyatt's death on January 13, 1929.
